Monday, January 20, 2014

Lotus Petals: A Visit with Brantwijn Serrah

Aijyn,
human slave to a ruthless vampire Lord, would never dare do anything to incur
his wrath. Then, she fell in love...with his bride.

Rhiannon Donovan, daughter to the vampire
Queen, would rather die than be made a bride to a demon lord. Aijyn, courtesan
to the undead Daimyo of Kansai, can think of nothing more horrifying than his
promise of eternal life. In the halls of the Blood Lotus Temple, the two women
struggle against the chains of their fate, and find a solace in each other that could mean freedom
for them both...or cost each of them their lives.

Excerpt:

Three vampires rested in the room occupied by the captain
of the daimyo's hunting party—all three of them awoke instantly when the little
human oiran threw back the
screen, shouting at them in furious Japanese. Without waiting for them to move,
she strode boldly across the little space to come eye-to-eye with the captain
himself as he struggled to come to his feet. At first they were so stunned by
the mortal's appearance none of the three knew what to do: Kazuo, the captain, finally
registered her shrill accusations.

"You would poison the daimyo's honored guest?"
she shouted at him. "You would drug her with octopus venom and then humiliate
her?"

Coming to his senses—they were slower in the daytime,
vampires—Kazuo brought his hands down on her shoulders and lifted her off her
feet. The sudden movement reminded her she had stepped into a tiger's den—she stiffened
in his grasp and sucked in a fearful breath.

"Since when does the human come into my rooms
uninvited?" he snarled. Fear shook her—she fully expected he would hurt
her, and rightfully so—but she did not give off.

"Rhiannon Donovan has drunk the venom of the blue-ring
octopus," she said, her voice quavering but still strong. "Your
huntsmen use it to paralyze and kill—one of them drugged the human she hunted,
and she swallowed it with his blood!"

"You dare charge my men with such a disgraceful
act? And for a gaijin
slut?"

"What's going on here?"

Kazuo looked up; his two servants followed his glance. In
the doorway stood Nagisa, tall and elegant, wrapped in the gauzy silk of her
azure sleeper's yukata—she, too, must have been roused by the sound of Aijyn's
screams. Her cold eyes regarded each of them carefully.

"Aijyn," she said, the curiosity in her tone
edged with danger. "What do you mean by disturbing the captain during his
daytime rest?"

Kazuo shot a dangerous and warning glare at the human oiran, but Aijyn ignored it,
desperate with fear.

"Nagisa-sama, the Councilwoman's noble emissary was
betrayed last night during the hunt," she said quickly; she'd never
imagined one day it might be Nagisa, of all people, to save her from the fangs
of an angry vampire.

"Rhiannon drank the blood of a human poisoned with
octopus venom, and now she lies in her rooms injured and sick. They took her
hair, Nagisa-sama! They've shorn her like a...like a rag boy!"

Nagisa's poisonous eyes narrowed, her lips pressing into a
thin line like the blade of a knife.

"Kazuo," she said the word like a stone dropping
into an empty well. "Put Aijyn down."

Kazuo stared, incredulous, at the graceful tayu. When he did not immediately
comply, Nagisa strode into the room and grabbed him by the throat.

"Why, Kazuo-san," she growled sweetly. "I
had no idea you had already become so bored with immortality. Seventy-three
years, if I recall, and already you wish for our master to release your
soulless carcass into oblivion."

Amazingly, Kazuo slowly backed down, quietly letting Aijyn
go while his eyes remained furiously on Nagisa. His servants watched with
silent awe as Nagisa continued, never breaking her hold on the captain's neck.

"Aijyn-chan, you are surely aware you will suffer
greatly, should this accusation prove false," the tayu said.

"I am quite sure of it, Nagisa-sama," Aijyn
replied, bowing low. "I have heard the captain and his hunting party speak
of the blow-darts they use to sting their human prey with the toxin. Kazuo-san
has said the poison stings kin-born vampires as well; I am quite sure Rhiannon
has swallowed it, and what reduced her to helplessness while her clothes were
torn and her hair cut off."

"Please return to the rooms of our guest. Attend to
her carefully—be sure these men did not force themselves on her body, as well.
I will deal with Kazuo, and send word to the daimyo of this dishonorable
conduct."

Aijyn felt cold all through her, and a dizzy giddiness
swept through her mind. She had not even considered what she did—storming into
one of the vampire's nests!—and now she felt weak in the stomach. How had she
even survived it?

Nagisa's words echoed in her head: make sure the men had
not forced themselves on Rhiannon's body. How could she not have considered it
or checked for signs of it, to see if Rhiannon had also been raped by these
monsters?

"Aijyn-chan," Nagisa said again. Shaken from her
daze, she nodded. Then she slipped quickly out of the room and found herself
running for Rhiannon.

1. How did you start writing erotic
romance?

The short answer is, I
read a bad erotic novel and decided I could do better, haha. Really, though, I'd already known I had these
characters—Rhiannon and Aijyn—in my head, waiting to have their story told, but
I just didn't have the
right feel for it yet. When it occurred to me I could write a romance novel for
them, everything about it fit, so I went with it. As for the erotic part, well, I knew there wasjust more to the
story than flirting glances and implied intimacy. They needed it to be more. In writing Lotus Petals, I did a lot of looking into the erotic genre, what
made it good, what made it bad, so on... to help me with the book I began
practicing in short stories and exploring different scenarios, lifestyles and
characters. The result was a catalogue of
short erotic works I started submitting to anthologies, while I worked on the
novel.

2. Plotter or pantster?

Little of column A, little of column B. I get inspiration listening to music and so
while I've got a particular piece playing, I see the plot unfolding in my head,
and these little moments form some of the milestones in the work. I can't really work from outlines though, and
I can't write Part B if Part A isn't written already... even if I knowwhat Part B is,
but not what Part A is. So I tend to come up with a lot of stuff by the seat of
my pants while I'm trying to get to the parts I already plotted.

3. What are three things you have on
your writing desk?

Three cats.
No, I mean it. The minute the laptop comes out they pile onto the desk
and decide to become hand-warmers.
Though there's actually four of them.

Though I suppose you mean writing implements and
whatnot, so on that note, usually my iPod or my Kindle
(allows me to quick reference things or reply to emails and tweets without
disrupting the writing too much or losing my place), a notebook (I often have
to write by hand while I'm at my day job, so a lot gets written in these
instead of directly on my computer), and a snack of some kind. Usually a bad snack. Don't tell my calorie counter.

4. Favorite food?

Good old classic Macaroni and Cheese. My favorite is Panera Bread's. Even better in
a bread bowl.

5. Tell us a little about your new release. What character in the book really
spoke to you?

Well, to me, the story has always really been about
Rhiannon. Aijyn is the character my beta
readers and editor grew to like most, and I love her too, but Rhiannon is my character. She's the one that speaks to me
and the one I feel closest to. Maybe that's just because I like
vampires.

6. I write because I have stories to share. I've always wanted to be a writer more for
the chance to tell my stories to others, and to know (I hope!) that they enjoy the
stories. Yes, I'd love to be on a best-seller's list, but this is the real reason I
wanted to publish a book.

7. What is your favorite type of character to write about?

I write about all sorts of characters. Part of my
pleasure in writing is exploring new points of view. When I began writing for my blog, Foreplay and Fangs, I made it a
challenge to write different viewpoints often. So I've written from a woman's
standpoint, a man's, a gay woman's, gay man's, polyamourous folks, a domme, a
submissive... that's
a pretty good example of my interest in writing different viewpoints. As for just the personality
of the character? I very often like to write about strong characters, talented
characters who are good at what they do and proud of it, but I like to write
about them having a fall from grace, and having to rebuild themselves to the
person they were before. It's easy to write about a witch who is already top of
her class and lauded by her teachers and brings confidence and talent in
waves... what I like to do is put her on that pedestal, then knock her off of it.
Take her magic, take her adoring followers, put some flaws and mistakes and
harsh truths in her way, and then watch the story that unfolds as she
has to rebound. It sounds like I'm sadistic, but it's not about that... I just enjoy watching
a character's true strengths emerge
when she can't fall back on the ones that came to her so easily.

8. What is the sexiest scene you ever wrote?

I'm working on what I hope will be a very intense,
very hot novel about a power exchange relationship featuring a slave and her Master.
The book starts off from a short story I posted to my blog a year or so ago:
the scene is a captive slave challenged by a barbarian who has conquered her
homeland, and a conflict between them that becomes rough, passionate sex,
including bondage, a little spanking, little scarring, a little breath play. It
was an experimental
piece for me but I liked it so much I decided I really wanted to make something
full-length and really erotic out of it.

9. What advice would you give new authors in the erotica/romance field?

Be open to including some of the less-traveled areas
of the genre. Write about a woman who is overweight; write about a man who is
skinny and doesn't have a six pack. Write a scene that
doesn't end perfectly; write about a new kink or passion you yourself don't
have (for example, I've written from the POV of a gay man who is a
foodie). Challenge yourself and inform
yourself of all the different flavors of sex and eroticism there are out there,
and remember not all relationships are heterosexual, monogamous true love
matches between heirs to a family fortune.

10. What is next on your writerly horizon?

There's already one sequel to Rhiannon's story,
written but in need of some polishing before my editor gets her hands on
it. I expect more stories for Rhiannon,
too. More immediately, though, I have
another lesbian erotic romance I just submitted to
Breathless, called Goblin Fires,
which deals with the Fae Courts. I'm
hoping to hear back with some good news!

Sometime
in early 2009, Brantwijn Serrah ran across an erotic novel in her local Barnes and Noble, and fell in love with
the gorgeous geisha pictured on the cover. Sad to say, the book didn't live up
to expectations. After one too many iterations of the phrase "his most
honorable penis", Brantwijn decided to write her own story instead. The
idea for Lotus Petals, the tale of a
geisha seduced into the world of vampires, was born.